Transparency is the least used, most effective tool in sales. I am very transparent and expect my teams to be.
The other day we needed to resolve an issue with a client. They were cooperative and working with us but we needed things to move faster. We asked to accelerate the effort and in asking I explained exactly why. I told the client we needed the revenue for this fiscal year. I didn’t hide our motive.
No matter the motivation, I always tell clients what is behind our requests. I tell them we need the revenue, we screwed up at the factory, we lost an employee, we handled the order wrong, our assumptions were wrong, etc. It doesn’t matter to me what the motives or reasons are, I am always as transparent as I can be.
Being transparent builds trust. It lets clients be part of the solution. It gets us all working on the same page. It removes all sense of us vs. them from the relationship.
I don’t hold back information from clients. I am as transparent as possible. It’s served me well and the clients I’ve had through out the years will tell you it’s served them well too.
Holding back information may feel like the thing to do, but it rarely is. Relationships rely on transparency, without transparency is it really a relationship?